Thursday, May 13, 2010

13th May

No one that I know of in the world of children's literature seems to be celebrating a birthday today so it's a 'free-choice' day. I find these hard, because although I have a long list of authors and illustrators whose work I love but that I do not know the birthday of, I keep thinking I might yet find out when their birthday is.

There are so many versions and variants of Noah's Ark, so much so that our library has over 40 books which have Noah's Ark as a subject heading. They make a wonderful display, together with all the puzzles and toys that the library also has. The preschoolers love moving Noah , his wife and the animals each time they visit. The kindergarten children want to put the puzzles together, especially the 3D one and at lunchtime there is plenty of reading and viewing occurring as well.

Books in the library that are favourites of mine are:

• Why Noah Chose the Dove by Isaac Bashevis Singer because my first very successful assembly item was based on this text.

• Professor Noah's Spaceship by Brian Wildsmith. This book brings the story to the modern era where the air has become so polluted that Noah has to take the animals into outer space.

• Noah's Ark by Jerry Pinkney and Noah's Ark by Jane Ray because of the absolutely beautiful illustrations.

• Ark in the Park by Wendy Orr and Mr Noah and the Cats by Vashti Farrer because they are short chapter books that independent readers thoroughly enjoy once they have been convinced to borrow them.

• Aardvarks Disembark by Ann Jonas because it breaks the normal formatting and direction rules.

• Trouble in the Ark by Gerald Rose because it is one of those cumulative stories where the children laugh at the pandemonium and there are so many fantastic verbs, perfect for a grammar lesson.

• The Boat by Helen Ward. This is not really a Noah story, but it has a flood, an old man and animals and makes for great discussion with an able group of students.

About Me

I'm a teacher/librarian in an early childhood school library. The library caters for 3-8 year old children, their teachers and their parents.
My aim here is to showcase at least one book each day until there is ' a year in a Prep School Library'. Usually the date will be the birthday of someone who is connected with Children's Literature.
I have met my initial challenge to write about a book every day, so now I write much more intermittently when I have learned of a new birthday, special day, have had a wonderful teaching moment or have found a great new book.